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How to Create a New Course in Open edX/Edly Studio?

Guide to Creating a New Course Using the Studio

Overview

This article walks Edly Studio users through the process of creating a new course in Open edX Studio, from signing in to entering essential course details and initializing the course. You’ll learn how to set the course name, organization, course number, and course run fields that determine your course’s unique identifier. After creating the course, you can begin developing course content and organizing your course outline. Following these steps ensures your course is correctly configured and ready for further editing and publishing. 

Courses are the main content that your Learners will interact with. They are comprised of a schedule, course content, and access for your Learners. 

To create and run a course, you can either create an entirely new course in Studio or you can re-run an existing course.

You can also export and import courses as tar.gz files. You can do this when you need to back up a course or edit the course in tar.gz. 

Note: Make sure you have logged in to Studio before proceeding with the article. You should also have the permission/access of the Staff and Course Creator to create a new cousre.

Creating a Course

To create a course, follow these steps:

  • Sign in to the Open edX Studio
  • Click New Course
Screenshot 2026-02-11 at 4.39.05 PM

Enter the following information about your Course:

  • Course Name: The title of your Course. For example, the name might be “Sets, Maps, and Symmetry Groups”. This will be shown on the Learner Dashboard, Course Certificates (which can also be a custom name), and throughout the Course itself. Use title capitalization for the Course Title with normal spacing and punctuation. If needed, this can be changed at any time through the Advanced Settings in your Course. 
  • Organization: the identifier for your organization. Do not include spaces or special characters; there is typically only one organization on your LMS, but if there are additional Organizations, ensure that you select the right one for your course from the drop-down menu. 
  • Course Number: a unique, typically short identifier for your Course. We recommend entering both a subject abbreviation and a number and having a consistent Course Numbering scheme throughout your system. For example, for public health course number 207, you could enter "PH207". For an Introduction to Computer Science, you could enter "CS101". You should not include spaces or special characters (except _ ) in the Course Number. Screenshot 2026-02-17 at 3.19.59 PM
  • Course Run: this can be when your Course takes place. You can include the year and term as needed, for example, "2014_T1". The Course Run is helpful if you are planning to offer the same course at different times in the year, for example, "2023_Spring" and "2023_Fall". If you are not planning to offer the same course at different times in the year, you may want to include the year the course was launched and the version number, for example, "2023_v1". You should not include spaces or special characters in the Course Run. This field cannot be changed after your Course has been created.
  • To finish creating your new Course, click Create. You will see your Course Outline. From here, you can start developing course content.
  • There's no hard rule/syntax to add the course run number, you can simply add this as per your need.

Caution: The Organization, Course Number, and Course Run values that you enter are used to create the URL for your course. Because URLs do not have an unlimited length, the total number of characters that you enter for these values must be 65 or fewer. Here is an example: course-v1:klmX+DemoX.1+2T2021.  

Editing a Course

After you create a course, the course opens in Studio automatically and you can begin editing. Your next steps might include adding other Course Team Members, setting the Course Start and End Dates, and developing the Course Outline.

When you return to Studio later, your Courses dashboard page lists the courses that you created as well as any courses for which you have course team privilegeScreenshot 2026-02-17 at 3.22.37 PM

If you want to edit an existing course, visit to Studio. To edit the course, simply click on the Course Name. The Studio Course Outline page appears.

Changing the Course Title

The course title that you specify when you create your course becomes a part of the course URL. The course URL cannot be changed. However, you can change the way that your course title appears in Studio and the LMS.

Changing the Course Title

To change the way that your course title appears in Studio and the LMS, follow these steps.

  • Open the course in Studio
  • On the Settings menu, select Advanced Settings
  • In the Course Display Name field, enter the title that you want
  • Click Save.

In Studio and the LMS, your course title changes to the value that you specify in the Course Display Name field. The URL for your course does not change.

 Note: we do not recommend that you do this if your Course is live to Learners.